1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cable assembly, and more particularly to a high speed cable assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
When a cable or the like is terminated by an electrical connector to form a cable assembly, strain relief means is provided to minimize forces exerted on the junctions between conductors of the cable and contacts of the electrical connector. Strain relief means assembled to the cable and the electrical connector requires proper compression of the cable and holds the cable firmly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,796 issued to Molex on Jan. 24, 1995 discloses a traditional metal strain relief structure 56 crimped to a cable manually. The strain relief 56 includes a center section 6 adapted to embrace one side of the cable, a pair of wing sections 62 extending from the center section 60 and having screw-receiving holes 58 in alignment with screw posts 38 defined on a connector housing 18. A pair of screws 50 are respectively assembled to the screw posts 38 and the screw-receiving holes 58 to secure the strain relief 56 and the cable. However, when the strain relief 56 is secured to shell means 18 enclosing the connector housing 18, the cable may suffer too great external force that could damage the cable and render degradation in electrical performance. Moreover, such design is unfavorable for high speed application because it ignores Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) leakage between the strain relief 56 and the shell means 18. In addition, the process of crimping the strain relief 56 to the cable is completed manually, and therefore is imprecise and time consuming.
Summarily, an improved strain relief is highly needed to solve above-mentioned problems.